Looking for those who feed NATURE'S VARIETY RAW DIET...

[sadiesamie]

[QUOTE=laurenr;1925332]I cannot go into detail right now, but I have a situation with some similarities with Mango. The one thing I have found out is that VETS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NUTRITION. Sorry to shout this, but it is bugging me like crazy right now. I heard the same thing you did today, which I believe to not be true. I am going also, to get advice from a hollistic Vet, hopefully tomorrow. At least THEY seem more clued in on nutrition. I do know that when it comes to feeding,raw or otherwise, I will sooner take advice from someone that knows their stuff, than a "western" vet that is too narrow minded to look beyond his immediate science.
I feel your pain,
Lauren[/QUOTE

Our appt is this Friday with dr shawn - a holistic vet.. I just found out today that he is Martha Stewarts vet :-) hey he's gotta be good :-)
It is really driving me crazyyyyyyyyyyyyy :-)
I am calling it a night- I need to get at least 4 hrs of sleep :-) be back tomorrow. and don't be afraid to shout :-)

I want to hear lots of shouting. :-) All she kept telling me today is that your dogs are so small my gosh one case of ecoli will kill them. and she knows darn well that that scared the bejesus out of me. but I still left there and the last thing i said was that i didn't know what we were going to do.
she was already getting ancy with me.

[CupofDog]

Vets are NOT educated in nutrition. They are educated on how to make money by keeping dogs on crappy diets so we need extra medical care.

Kudos for following your instinct and going to a holistic vet. This is the way of the future and alternative modalities, integrative medicine and raw feeding are the path toward long healthy lives.

[stedmansmommy]

My babies are on NV Raw and we have had nothing but great results. #1, they eat it EXTREMELY well....they love it! #2, my female Yorkie has allergies and very dry skin, and after being on NV Raw for a little over a month now, her skin has improved DRAMATICALLY. She doesn't itch NEAR as much and mostly all of the flakes on her skin are gone. I am VERY impressed. They eat both the Lamb, and the Venison (those are the only ones I give them).

Next week they will also be starting on NV Instinct Dry Kibble (Duck Meal & Turkey Meal formula). It is grain free of course, and I am giving it to them just for a little variety I will give them Raw in the morning and the dry kibble at night or vice versa...or, there may even be some days were they don't get the dry kibble at all. I do want to have a good quality, grain free kibble on hand though just to give them sometimes. Hopefully, we will have great results with this, just like the Raw I think we will!

[laurenr]

Originally Posted by stedmansmommy

My babies are on NV Raw and we have had nothing but great results. #1, they eat it EXTREMELY well....they love it! #2, my female Yorkie has allergies and very dry skin, and after being on NV Raw for a little over a month now, her skin has improved DRAMATICALLY. She doesn't itch NEAR as much and mostly all of the flakes on her skin are gone. I am VERY impressed. They eat both the Lamb, and the Venison (those are the only ones I give them).

Next week they will also be starting on NV Instinct Dry Kibble (Duck Meal & Turkey Meal formula). It is grain free of course, and I am giving it to them just for a little variety I will give them Raw in the morning and the dry kibble at night or vice versa...or, there may even be some days were they don't get the dry kibble at all. I do want to have a good quality, grain free kibble on hand though just to give them sometimes. Hopefully, we will have great results with this, just like the Raw I think we will!

Brooke,
I am so pleased that the Tatertot's allergies seem to be lessening. My sister has been away, but I expect to talk to her soon, and will find out the name of her dog's allergy meds for you.
How do your babies enjoy the NV dry kibble? Before putting Mango on their Raw medallions, she was on the Evangers, but I always had to coat the kibble with their canned chicken because she was such a finnicky eater. Maybe I should give the NV kibble a try as well. That was one of the reasons I was so happy with the Raw, she just gobbled it down. Unfortunately she has been having issues with vomiting (long story), so I am also waiting for the opinion of a Holistic Vet. My own Vet had never even heard of a raw diet and was horrified when I described it to him.He also tried to scare me with dire warnings about tiny dogs, bacteria, etc, etc.
hugs to you and your delicious furbutts,
Lauren

[CupofDog]

Originally Posted by laurenr

Brooke,
I am so pleased that the Tatertot's allergies seem to be lessening. My sister has been away, but I expect to talk to her soon, and will find out the name of her dog's allergy meds for you.
How do your babies enjoy the NV dry kibble? Before putting Mango on their Raw medallions, she was on the Evangers, but I always had to coat the kibble with their canned chicken because she was such a finnicky eater. Maybe I should give the NV kibble a try as well. That was one of the reasons I was so happy with the Raw, she just gobbled it down. Unfortunately she has been having issues with vomiting (long story), so I am also waiting for the opinion of a Holistic Vet. My own Vet had never even heard of a raw diet and was horrified when I described it to him.He also tried to scare me with dire warnings about tiny dogs, bacteria, etc, etc.
hugs to you and your delicious furbutts,
Lauren

Trust your instinct! Find a holistic vet. Raw feeding is incredibly healthy. Any risks are eliminated by hygiene practices. I feel I am happier taking the slight risk of bacteria, rather then the risk of contaminated and useless pet kibbles that lack nutritional value. Check out Rob Mueller's BARF Blog at barfworld.com. He is a top expert in the field. I am sorry to say most vets are anti raw because they lack nutritional training! Vet school focuses on biology, anatomy and surgery. It doesn't teach much about preventative and whole animal care. I know - I dropped out because there was no info on caring for pets!

[stedmansmommy]

Originally Posted by laurenr

Brooke,
I am so pleased that the Tatertot's allergies seem to be lessening. My sister has been away, but I expect to talk to her soon, and will find out the name of her dog's allergy meds for you.
How do your babies enjoy the NV dry kibble? Before putting Mango on their Raw medallions, she was on the Evangers, but I always had to coat the kibble with their canned chicken because she was such a finnicky eater. Maybe I should give the NV kibble a try as well. That was one of the reasons I was so happy with the Raw, she just gobbled it down. Unfortunately she has been having issues with vomiting (long story), so I am also waiting for the opinion of a Holistic Vet. My own Vet had never even heard of a raw diet and was horrified when I described it to him.He also tried to scare me with dire warnings about tiny dogs, bacteria, etc, etc.
hugs to you and your delicious furbutts,
Lauren

Hey Lauren! Don't worry about it girl...I was just curious to know if your sisters baby was taking the same allergy meds as Tate, but there is no rush I just went back to the vet today to get her more because she ran out of them this morning. They really do help her alot with the itching, and the Raw Diet seems to be working wonders also. The babies haven't officially started the NV Instinct dry kibble yet though. I didn't think that I would be getting it until next week on Wednesday because the manager of a store here in town had to order it for me, however...come to find out, the babies vet now carries the Duck Meal & Turkey Meal formula that I wanted to put them on, so I went ahead and picked a small bag of it up today when I went in. They also carry the Rabbit which I will be trying too. I am going to give it to them in the morning for the first time ever, so hopefully they like it (I know Tatum will, she never turns anything down lol) - but I am keeping my fingers crossed with Stedman! He is my picky one

I am so sorry to hear about Mango throwing up....I hope she is ok?? Hopefully it has nothing to do with the raw? Your right....these babies really do gobble it down sooo fast...I was just amazed when I saw how Stedman ate this stuff - I have never in 2 years seen him eat anything that fast He absolutely loves it

Big hugs back to you and the kiddos girl!

[CupofDog]

There was much mention of pups throwing up! Its horrible to watch your babies go through that! A wonderful supplement, no matter what you feed is Pet Flora. It rebalances the gut and digestive system in a formula especially for dogs. Its a miracle cure, all natural and helps pups be all around healther!!!

Visit Pet Health Care - Natural Remedies For Your Cats & Dogs for more info. I also wrote about it on my website, which you can read here: PetFlora, Holistic Digestion Aid | CupOFdog | Dog Site for Dog People

Hope that you try it! It helps!!

[laurenr]

Originally Posted by CupofDog

There was much mention of pups throwing up! Its horrible to watch your babies go through that! A wonderful supplement, no matter what you feed is Pet Flora. It rebalances the gut and digestive system in a formula especially for dogs. Its a miracle cure, all natural and helps pups be all around healther!!!

Visit Pet Health Care - Natural Remedies For Your Cats & Dogs for more info. I also wrote about it on my website, which you can read here: PetFlora, Holistic Digestion Aid | CupOFdog | Dog Site for Dog People

Hope that you try it! It helps!!

Thanks for that!! Is this by any chance the same as Probiotics and Enzymes (made my NaturVet)? I purchased that just this week. I just want to restore healthy digestive enzymes in her little tummy.Does Pet Flora help with throwing up and its nasty after effects, or is it a daily supplement like the above?? I have a 1:30 appointment with a nutritionist tomorrow who works with a Holistic Vet, so I am hoping to get information/validation about the raw diet.

This has been such a useful thread for anyone with Raw diet/nutrition questions!!
Lauren

[preciousdelilah]

i am a brand new member to YT with this being my 1st post. so hello everyone!! i have a 3 month old teacup yorkie (1 lb) and she will not eat ANYTHING!! she has had 2 hypo emergencies all due to her pickiness. when i first got her she ate the breeder food (purina puppy dry but i soaked it mixed with ceasar puppy wet - ewww, not a good diet for her) so i started the switch to AVODERM natural puppy wet with Royal Canin dry. she did not take to it. now she's on a medical A/D which is supposed to act only as a supplement. poor delilah can't take another hypo accident! but she will not eat anything. i've tried adding baby food to her meal, but she eats only that and leaves her food. so after reading everyone's posts about NV RAW im curious as to how she would take to it, is anyone else feeding this to such a young puppy?

[CupofDog]

Originally Posted by laurenr

Thanks for that!! Is this by any chance the same as Probiotics and Enzymes (made my NaturVet)? I purchased that just this week. I just want to restore healthy digestive enzymes in her little tummy.Does Pet Flora help with throwing up and its nasty after effects, or is it a daily supplement like the above?? I have a 1:30 appointment with a nutritionist tomorrow who works with a Holistic Vet, so I am hoping to get information/validation about the raw diet.

This has been such a useful thread for anyone with Raw diet/nutrition questions!!
Lauren

Lauren,
Pet Flora is similar to the product you were describing, however its not a daily supplement. The major difference is that the they use soil based organisms as the probiotic as opposed to generic probiotics. SBOs mimic the type of probiotic wild dogs use to settle their stomachs. This is why its esp. effective for raw feeders. It does keep the digestive track healthy and is more effective then any other enzyme/probiotic I have tried. When my baby's tummy is upset, I'll sprinkle the contents of pet flora in her breakfast and dinner for two days, then i give it with breakfast for two days, then I give it once every three days, and now I give it once a week as a supplement to both my dogs to promote healthy digestion.
Along with a Pet Flora pill once a week, I use an enzyme supplement daily to help maximize the nutrients the kids absorb.

Pet Flora is made by a company called Vitality Science and they also sell a daily supplement that has pet flora & enzymes in it for regularly awful tummies. I use that one for my Cavalier, because he gets diarrhea just from being upset if Mommy is out of the house too long!!

Hope that helps and let us know how the holistic vet trip goes!

[Tytainea]

By chance yesterday I drove past a holistic pet food shop in my area. I have been reading so many things about the raw diet that I went in to see if they had it and ask some questions. The lady in the shop was raving about it and extremely helpful. She gave me fee samples of 3 different kinds. I got 2 NV beef medalions 2 Primal Duck nugets and a small scoop of Aunt Jeni's Home Made in the Chicken flavor. I gave Britain a beef medalion for breakfast after thawing in the fridge overnight to see if she would like it and she seemed to love it. She ate it right up. She never does that with her kibble...1 or 2 bites and she runs off to get into trouble.
I really like the ingredients of Aunt Jeni and that its all organic. I think that I will go this weekend and pick up a small tub. It comes in Chicken, Beef, Rabbit, Goat, Lamb and Turkey varieties. They also have Turkey Rabbit Beef and Chicken for Cats. Of which I have 2.
Does anyone else have any experience with this brand?

Side note: I also picked up a bottle of Petzlife Oral Care Gel while I was there. I was dancing circles that they had it.

[Too Cute Teddy]

Kepp us posted on how your babies do on the instinct and if they like it - I want one to rotate for Teddy with Orijen!!

[sadiesamie]

Well......... we had the visit today with the Holistic vet, He didn’t seem overly worried at all about the high lipase/amylase values. OR ANYTHING for that matter on the labs for the girls.

As far as the UPC ratio… he said that it could fluctuate based on diet. Sadie's UPC last month was 7.3 and when we tested her this past Wed it was 3.7.

I was so HAPPY to see that it came down.

So anyway on with the visit- we talk about protein loss and he says that we can try all of the different prescription diets and he named Iams, Hills Science Diet K/D or Purina NF and then he says these are all junky foods of course. I told him yeah we tried 2 of them (purnia NF and Hills Pres diet) he says well they make several different ones and you just have to find one that works- one that the girls could tolerate and one that actually helps with the protein loss. I told him that most of the pres diets contain corn and how I was not happy with them. He says well they make several different ones so you can see what one works best.

I told him NO -that I was not going to try any of the pres diets (i am thinking to myself "if" they are all junk! why in the H*ll even suggest them to me then) Then he says well... I always thought that it would be great if someone could invent a great food for dogs with Kidney problems but right now the prescription diets are the only ones out there"

This was where I started loosing faith in him and realized that this appt may just be a waste of time! ONLY because I also have researched and learned that pres diets ARE trash food, coated crap to get the dogs to eat it, and that it eventually causes problems with something else down the road.

He proceeded to tell me that Wellness was not a bad food at all and that we could continue that and start the girls on some supplements.

I had more questions about diet/nutrition so before we got off of that subject I asked him if we could feed “raw” and he said yes you can.
He says "Could it make the protein loss worse...??? there is only one way to find out" so now I am thinking that this was when he was going to tell me the benefits of feeding raw- but he didn't. I actually had to bring it up. that's when he said you can feed raw.... but just be careful when handling it. ALSO--- it could make the protein loss worse OR…. it could make it better??? And the only way to do it was to try it AND if we did---
to introduce it SLOWLY.

I did not GAIN ANYTHING from this visit and needless to say I was soooo disappointed. He is a Holistic vet... I thought for sure he would talk about raw but No- he says the Wellness is an ok food and you can add supplements. ????? Ok- holisic vet....supplements.... i see where this is going.

Ok so that's what we agree on I suppose- our visit ended and off to the receptionist we go... well- I didn't know we were going to have "4" different supplements??? 200.00 worth.

Oh let me back up to the visit and the only thing I gained.... the Holistic vet says you shouldn't give Frontline for fleas and tick unless your dog actually "gets" fleas and ticks.

And he also said that it is not necessary to vaccinate your dogs every year. (don't mind saying it but I already knew of course from my YT friends)

He saw NO red flags with the lab work. He reassured us that the lipase/amylase values are on the high side BUT....that they were nothing to be overly concerned with AT ALL unless the values were "tripled" and they are not. He also said that the blood work we had done was not the best test for pancreatitis. So he basically was not worried about the lipase and amylase AT ALL. Nothing on the labs AT ALL..

As soon as he mentioned that the protein in the raw “could” make the protein loss worse and also added that the dogs could die from ecoli or salmenella if we didn't handle it properly too.. and also that the kidneys could end up working harder bc the protein is different than the protein that is in kibble... what??? this makes no sense to me??? All the things I have read saying how that raw is a QUALITY EXECELENT SOURE OF PROTEIN and it's supposed to be EASIER on the kidneys. The ONLY thing I read about protein effecting anything was the liver.

I am so confused???? AND THENNNNN ALL of the convincing I did with my husband about all the things i researched on line and on YT about how feeding raw was an execelent choice was flushed right down the toilet LITERALLY because he just looked at me with a look on his face that I knew meant “we are NOT going to feed raw!”

So I "thought" this holistic vet had some knowledge on nutrition... I guess I was WRONG because right before we left the exam room I told him how our Specialist was adamate about his reasons for not wanting us to feed raw diet and how they even went as far as telling me that the Holistic vet (him) we were seeing to the best of their knowledge was NOT a nutritionist. I "ASSUMED" he knew a lot about nutrition though... But I guess his speciality is supplements and natural cures.

I got really bold asked him if he was a licensed nutritionist he said "No I am not" he said I believe there is maybe what??? 30 in the state of Texas and THEN he added "I am not going to spend years researching all that and go to school for 10 more years" (oh how that made me frown)

I told my husband on the way there that I wasn't sure what to expect from this visit today ANYWAY.... and so on the way home I told him how I was STILL wanting to call Dr Susan Davis. Well he got upset bc he says I just paid 250.00 today!!! we have all of these supplements................ why not try this at least and recheck sadie in 4-6 wks and go from there???

He said I have heard it from the vet, the specialist and now the holistic vet nothing all that good about feeding raw.

Why the holistic vet suggested pres diets is beyond me???? AND.....We left there with 4 different supplements: UT Strength,Proanthozone, Whole Kidney System, and RX Zyme. Why so many I have no idea?? but I have NOT given them yet I know nothing about ANY of these.

And now my husband is irritated with me bc I have spent endless hours on the computer reseaching every second I have to spend on here. He is mainly irritated with me bc I am not too sure I want to start giving all of these supplements. 2 of the supplements are 2x a day and the other 2 are once a day. I don't even know what in the heck all of these are for. I think just by reading the one RZ ZYME it has Amylase 4000 DU and Lipase 100 FIP. this could help the pancreas values?? but I still have some researching to do i guess.

The Holisitc vet didn’t say that we could NOT feed raw he just said it “could” make the protein loss worse OR it could make it better. And that we would need to be careful when handling Raw otherwise yes-- they 'could" get very sick and die. THIS IS WHAT is sticking in my husbands head! URGHHHHH....

Sooo now I don’t know what to do??? My husband says if I want to talk to Dr susan davis then fine. He does not want to know anymore what I do. (man he makes me mad sometimes) BUT I HAVE been beating this to death! I have spent countless hours on line.... in the library and YT. He is also missing his wife also because I have been spending a TON of time with this.

So QUESTION I HAVE TO ASK MYSELF..... Do we still feed the Wellness and MAYBE add the supplements and retest UPC in 4-6 wks??????? I am so confused on what to do ??!!??!?!?!

WELL............. I decided to go on my way home from work tonight and I bought 2 bags of Natures variety- Venison and Chicken (I used the buy one get one free coupon) Part of me wants to try it for 4-6 wks and retest the UPC...

I called someone today at Natures Variety and asked her about how "slowly" we should do this if I decided to go with it. She said 4-6 wks.

Part of me wants to just do this and do exactly that- introduce it slowly and retest UPC in 4-6 wks to see what happens.

We can always switch back to the Wellness. I don't know if at this point he will get further upset with me bc I want to talk to Susan Davis now or what. He told me while we were argueing about it. FINE- if you want to call her then DO IT! But don't include me. :-(

and... I do want to call her and I am thinking that I will talk to him about it again and hopefully sometime this week I can talk with her.

In the mean time.... I gave the girls a super small amount of the venison and they LOVED it. I couldn't help it! And for as bad as I wanted to give them more of it- I am going to do this slowwwwwwwwwwly.

MY PLAN: I took out 1 medallion and cut it in half and froze the rest. I will only give them 1/2 of the medallion for the rest of the w/end. then next week increase it a little more. Then once i talk to Susan Davis we will see what she says. At this point I am going superrrrr slowwwwwww- we aren't adding much of the raw anyways so we'll see what she says.

if she says no to the raw then I will stop. but I was just too anxious and too freaking excited NOT to try this!!! you know I was!! Plus it could bc we are doing a UPC test in 4-6 wks and we will see what this does. If it raises then we know it's wasn't a good choice.

Ok- I'm done. SORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY this is so long-
but husband wont listen to me anymore, so ya'll is all I got. :-(
If you made it though this entire post...
I thank you for that and I will listen and look forward to any responses.

Also any info on any of the supplements. I am so in the dark with these.

[Wylie's Mom]

Oh WOW. I really feel for you bc I know how HARD you've been trying to gather all the information. I know part of you doesn't want to call Susan, what with all the money, effort, time and emotion you've already spent.

BUT, here's the thing: none of them have given you clear answers. Susan is 100% confident in what she does, bottom line. You tell her the enzyme levels and history - BOOM - she knows where to go w/ nutrition - end of story. You can TELL her what you've already spent - including the supplements, you can tell her you're hoping (at this time) not to spend any more on supplements - she's the kind of person you can say that to. She will be ALL for the raw - and she'll help you get in *balance*.

Most importantly - she'll give you peace of mind! Please tell her hi from Marcel - she loves hearing from him, bc I was at my wit's end when I consulted w/ her!

[southernchick]

I'm so sorry your hubbie has gotten "burn-out" We just got started on the raw too, I read all your post & I think you know what you need to do to give yourself that piece of mind- go on & call dr. susan b/c your not going to feel better about anything your doing until you do, if your like me when somethings bothering me, your prob not even sleeping at night. You are a very good mommie & we all know that, you just need to convince yourself. I would like for someone w/experience w/the raw to post all the guidelines they think we need to follow w/the raw on safety & handling besides the obvious of washing our hands, like how long after we defrost can it remain in the fridge safely? thinking about ya & hope your ok! make that call monday sister!!